The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time

The fomer book review editor for the L.A. Times David Ulin has a 15 year old son, Noah, who assures his father that literature is dead and that reading is 'over'.

We who relish words bristle at the thought.

Today on KQED's Forum program, host Michael Krasny interviewed Mr. Ulin on his thoughts about the ongoing relevance of literature in an age of digital distraction. Listen here: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201010191000

To David Ulin his son's statements were like a knife thrust in the heart. The former book review editor of the Los Angeles Times: “almost asked for a towel to clean up the blood.”

The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time (Sasquatch, Nov.) is not another screed against the information age. Rather, it is Ulin’s honest attempt to come to terms with Noah and with his own sense of “How do things stick to us in a culture where information and ideas flare up so quickly that we have no time to assess one before another takes its place? How does reading maintain its hold on our imagination, or is the question even worth asking anymore?” - taken from Publisher's Weekly Blog at http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/?p=2387